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City should tackle root of water problems

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Thursday January 16, 2014 6:26 AM

I respond to the Jan. 3Dispatcharticle “Columbus tries to fix water’s odor, taste.” As a resident
of Columbus, I find recent reports indicating the presence of algae called anabaena in drinking
water highly concerning.

More than 1,000 complaints describing water as having a foul odor and taste have been received
by the city of Columbus since November, yet the problem persists. Restaurants are having to warn
customers, and residents of the city say the smell makes showering practically unbearable.

While the city claims that it is doing all that it can do, such as spending nearly $300,000 per
month on powder-activated carbon, I question why the public hasn’t been provided more information
and why, to my knowledge, there has yet to be an informational meeting.

Algae blooms are caused by runoff containing excess nutrients making its way into streams,
usually from agricultural areas. Rather than spend hundreds of thousand of dollars a month to treat
the contaminated water, I think it is more logical and cost-effective to take steps to limit the
amounts of fertilizers, manure and sewage making their way to our waterways.

A “watershed approach” is vital to addressing the root cause of this problem. Columbus must make
a concerted effort to work in tandem with surrounding counties in order to tackle the problem.